This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008)

The following list of national founders is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing their nation. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e., political system form of government, and constitution), of the country.

[edit] Africa

[edit] Morocco

Ahmed Belbachir Haskouri (1908-1962) led, as a protectorate authority, Spanish Morocco to its independence by financially and politically supporting the armed resistance and the political parties and by keeping the Spanish authorites politically in check.

[edit] Ghana

Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) led the nation to its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Liberia

Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809–1876) was born a free man of Black American descent. In 1829 his family moved to Liberia. In 1839, Roberts became Liberia's lieutenant governor and afterwards, its governor (1841–1848). He is known as the father of Liberia and officially declared Liberia's independence in 1847.^[1]

[edit] Namibia

Sam Nujoma of Namibia

Sam Nujoma (born 1929) was named Namibia's "Founding Father of the Nation" after the indepedence in 1990^[2]

[edit] Nigeria

Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946), Alvan Ikoku (1900–1971), Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904–1996), Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987), Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910–1966), Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912–1966), Murtala Mohammed (1938–1976), Aminu Kano (1920–1983), Joseph Tarka (1932–1980) and Dennis Osadebay (1911–1994) are considered founding fathers of Nigeria. The troika of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Ahmadu Bello negotiated Nigeria's independence from Britain

[edit] Sierra Leone

Freetown, Sierra Leone was founded in part by an African American slave called Thomas Peters in 1792 who convinced British abolitionists to help settle 1,192 Black Americans who fought for the British in return for freedom. Peters alongside other Black Americans David George and Moses Wilkinson were influential in the establishment of Freetown, but it was Peters who is remembered today as the true influential leader and founder of Sierra Leone. A street was named for Thomas Peters in Freetown by the Krio Mayor Winstanley Bankole Johnson.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] South Africa

Jan van Riebeeck (1619–1677) was the first Governor of the Cape and later of Batavia, he allowed for many more Europeans to go to the Cape, later leading to the foundation of the Cape Colony. Nelson Mandela (1918– ) Was the former President of South Africa 1994–1999. He led the campaign to racially integrate the country. He was the leader of the African National Congress.

[edit] Americas

Simón Bolívar of Latin America

José de San Martín^[3], Simón Bolívar^[4], Antonio José de Sucre, Francisco de Paula Santander^[5], Francisco de Miranda^[6] have been referred to as the founding fathers of the northern countries of South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia).

[edit] Argentina

José de San Martín (1778–1850) and Manuel Belgrano (1770–1820) are usually considered the founding fathers of Argentina.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Brazil

José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (1763–1838) is regarded as the "Patriarch of Independence" in Brazil. He was responsible to advise the so Prince Regent of Brazil, Pedro de Alcantara, about Portugal's intentions to downgrade Brazil to colonial status, after years the Portuguese American territory was already joint to the European metropolis as a united kingdom. This attitude convinced the Prince Regent to declare the independence of Brazil in September 7, 1822, becoming himself the new independent country's emperor, titled as Pedro I of Brazil (1798–1834).^[7]

[edit] Canada

Canadian Fathers of Confederation

The name "Fathers of Confederation" is given to those who attended the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences in 1864, and the London Conference of 1866, to establish the Canadian Confederation. There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation.^[8] The political leaders who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as "Fathers of Confederation."^[9]

[edit] Chile

Bernardo O'Higgins (1778–1842) and José Miguel Carrera (1785–1821) are usually considered the founding fathers of Chile. Other people referred as founding fathers of Chile include Camilo Henríquez and Manuel Rodríguez (1785–1818).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Dominican Republic

Juan Pablo Duarte (1813–1876), Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (1817–1861) and Matías Ramón Mella (1816–1864) are considered the "Padres de la Patria" or Fathers of the Country. Duarte is featured on the $1 coin; Sanchez on the $5 coin and on the now discontinued $5 bill; Mella on the $10 coin and on the also discontinued $10 bill.^[10]

[edit] Haiti

Toussaint Louverture (May 20, 1743–April 8, 1803) and Jean-Jacques Dessalines (20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) were revolutionary and early political leaders of Haiti.

[edit] United States

Founding fathers of the United States.

Within the large group known as "the Founding Fathers", there are two key subsets, the Signers (who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776) and the Framers (who were delegates to the Federal Convention and took part in framing or drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States). Some historians have suggested a revised definition of the "Founding Fathers", including a significantly broader group of not only the Signers and the Framers but also all those who, whether as politicians or jurists or statesmen or soldiers or diplomats or ordinary citizens, took part in winning American independence and creating the United States of America.^[11] The eminent American historian Richard B. Morris, in his 1973 book Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries, identified the following seven figures as the key founding fathers: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.^[12]

[edit] Asia

[edit] Afghanistan

Ahmad Shah Abdali (1723–1773) unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747.^[13] His mausoleum is in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he is fondly known as Ahmad Shah Baba (Father of Afghanistan).^[14]

[edit] Azerbaijan

Mammed Amin Rasulzade is the founding father of Azerbaijan.^{[citation needed]} Mehemmed Emin Resulzade (Azerbaijani: Məhəmməd Əmin Axund Hacı Molla Ələkbər oğlu Rəsulzadə, Turkish: Mehmed Emin Resulzâde; January 31, 1884, Novkhana, near Baku — March 6, 1955, Ankara) was an Azerbaijani statesman, scholar, public figure and one of the founding political leaders of Azerbaijan Republic (1918–1920). His expression "Bir kərə yüksələn bayraq, bir daha enməz!" ("The flag once raised will never fall!") has become the motto of the independence movement in Azerbaijan in the 20th century.

[edit] Bangladesh

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920–1975), is generally considered as the founder of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and was also the first President of Bangladesh. A charismatic politician and popularly called "Bangabandhu" (friend of the Bengal), Mujib's political career featured a struggle for democracy and defiance against military rule in Pakistan. He declared Bangladesh's independence in March, 1971^[15] immediately after the Pakistan Army began its infamous Operation Searchlight massacre and was subsequently arrested and kept in solitary confinement in West Pakistan throughtout the nine-month long bloody war. He was released in January, 1972 and returned to Bangladesh to lead the newly independent country.

Mujib's administration would prove to be inept in governing the country wrecked by war and famine. In the mid-night of August 15, 1975, a group of disgruntled army officers brutally killed him along with most of his family members at his private residence in Dhaka.

In an opinion poll conducted by the BBC Bengali service in 2003, he was voted as the greatest Bengali in a thousand years.^[16]

[edit] Bhutan

Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651) fled Tibet and unified the fiefdoms of Bhutan. He established the dual system of shared power between secular and Buddhist leadership that continues as a tradition to the present.

[edit] Burma

General Aung San is the founding father of Burma (also known as Myanmar). Although he did not live to see the country's independence, he is credited in forming the basic structure of the independence movement and government. Aung San started his political career in 1930 as the editor of Rangoon University's Newspaper - where he accused one of the British administrators of misconduct. In late 1940 he went to Japanese controlled Taiwan and Xiamen to receive military training, and he led the Burmese National Army, spearheading the Japanese invasion of Burma. Later, he switched sides to the Allies, and helped in the Burma Campaign. After the war, he was appointed to the government of a returning British Administration, and was able to negotiate Burma's independence. He helped organized the Panglong Agreement in February 1947, achieving independence for all Burmese territories. However, on Saturday, 19 July 1947, Aung San, along with his cabinet ministers, was assassinated at the secretariat building in Rangoon.

[edit] Republic of China

Sun Yat-sen is revered as the "Father of the Country" (國父) in the Republic of China. However, following the Chinese Civil War, the country was split up into two states. The new nations were the modern day Peoples Republic of China, and the Republic of China, commonly referred to as Taiwan. Chairman Mao is commonly accredited with being the architect of the People's Republic of China. Chiang Kai Shek is accredited with being the first leader of the constitutional Republic of China.

[edit] India

Portrait of Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) is often referred to as the founding father of India. He was one of the top leaders of the Indian National Congress which struggled for the liberation of India from British rule. Jawaharlal Nehru (1718–1964), the first Prime Minister of India, is also considered a founding father^[17]. It also refers to Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956), the architect of the Indian constitution, also an educationist, prominent political figure and India's first law minister. Indian constitution provided constitutional guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for yong boy. The Constitution was adopted on august 9, 1949 by the Constituent Assembly.^[18].

Although this usage is declining, when used in the plural, as the "Founding fathers" it usually refers to the members of the Constitutional Assembly's Draft Committee ^[19]. Ironically the Drafting Committee also included women among its ranks.

[edit] Indonesia

Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta are the founding fathers of Indonesia. They both signed the Proclamation of Independence which then read by Soekarno, proclaiming the independence of Indonesia from the Netherlands on 17 August 1945. A day later, they were elected respectively as the first President and Vice President of Indonesia. As the Netherlands did not recognize the independece, both of them were prominent figures and were seen as symbol of unity among Indonesian people to fight against Dutch during the National Revolution from 1945 to 1949. In August 1949, Hatta headed a delegation to the Hague for a Round Table Conference which then led to the recognition of Indonesian independence by the Netherlands in 23 December 1949.^[20]

[edit] Iran

Cyrus the Great (600 BC – 530 BC) was the founder of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty an empire without precedent—a first world-empire of historical importance^[21] and perhaps the most wealthy and magnificent in history.^[22] Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989) founder of Islamic Republic of Iran and first Supreme Leader of Iran.

[edit] Malaysia

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, CH (February 8, 1903 – December 6, 1990) usually known as "the Tunku" (a princely title in Malaysia), and also called Bapa Kemerdekaan (Father of Independence) or Bapa Malaysia (Father of Malaysia), was Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955, and the country's first Prime Minister from independence in 1957. He remained Prime Minister after Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore joined in 1963 to form Malaysia.

[edit] Mongolia

Genghis Khan posthumous portrait

Genghis Khan, Chinggis Khagan (c.1162 – 1227), who by uniting the nomadic tribes founded the Mongol Empire, is generally regarded as the father of modern-day Mongolia. Although downcast during the communist-era, Genghis Khan's reputation surged after the democratic revolution in 1990. Modern Mongolia is often called "Genghis's Mongolia".

[edit] Pakistan

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, as a young lawyer.

Pakistan's founding father is Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948), an Indian Muslim Barrister, originally from the Indian National Congress and later the Muslim League, who fought for the rights of Muslim minority in India, is widely held to be the creator of Pakistan. Jinnah is referred to as Quaid-e-Azam or the "Great Leader".

Mr. Jinnah started his career as firmly a secular Indian nationalist and later on was reluctantly converted to the cause of Muslim nationalism through the efforts of Aga Khan III, martyred Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan and Poet Philosopher Allama Iqbal all of whom are also revered to a certain extent as founding fathers. Aga Khan was also the founding president of the All India Muslim League. Choudhary Rahmat Ali coined the term Pakistan and is considered the father of the word "Pakistan". Muslim modernist and reformist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh Educational Movement, is sometimes referred to as the father of the Two-Nation Theory, the basic principle on which Pakistan was founded.

Ex-President and Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is widely considered as the father of the Pakistani constitution of 1973. Bhutto is reffered to as Quaid-e-Awam or the "Leader of the Community".

[edit] Philippines

Jose Rizal did not live long enough to see the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain. or the subsequent defeat of the fledgling government by the United States, but he did play a prominent role in building a sense of national identity in the Philippines. A novelist and a critic, he wrote very influential books, so influential that he was exiled by the Spanish government to the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, and when he left exile, executed, on December 30, 1896. During the Philippine Commonwealth, which was still under the rule of the United States, he was declared the official National Hero of the Philippines and subsequent to Philippine Independence laws were passed requiring courses on Rizal in all secondary schools and colleges.

[edit] Australia

Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896) is regarded as the "Father of Federation" in Australia. During the late 19th century, he was the strongest proponent for a federation of Australian territories. Unfortunately he died before Australia federated, and never got to see his plan come to fruition.^[23] Other founders of Australia can be regarded as Captain James Cook, the Englishman who claimed Australia; Captain Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales and founder of the first colony; and Sir Edmund Barton, the first Australian Prime Minister.

[edit] Europe

Benedict of Nursia delivers his rule to the Benedictines

Otto von Bismarck of Germany

One of the earliest people considered "father of Europe" is Benedict of Nursia — a 6th century Italian saint and the most important architect of Western monasticism.^[24] The Benedictines, the followers of his rule, have also been called "Fathers of European civilization."^[24] Another 6th century monk was Columbanus, the Irish missionary who Robert Schuman considered a patron saint for all involved in the construction of a unified Europe.^[25] In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI said that "along with the Irishmen of his time", Columbanus "was aware of the cultural unity of Europe":

"With his spiritual energy, with his faith, with his love for God and for his neighbor, he truly became one of the fathers of Europe: He shows us even today the roots from which our Europe can be reborn."^[26]

There are a number of men in modern times who have been considered founding fathers of European unity or, what is now, the European Union. These include Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967), Joseph Bech (1887–1975),^[27] Winston Churchill (1874–1965), Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi (1894–1972), Alcide De Gasperi (1881–1954), Jacques Delors (born 1925), Sicco Mansholt (1908–1995), Jean Monnet (1888–1979), Lorenzo Natali, Robert Schuman (1886–1963), Mário Soares (born 1924), Paul-Henri Spaak (1899–1972), Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986), and Pierre Werner (1913–2002).^[28][29]

[edit] Germany

Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), the "Iron Chancellor", engineered the unification of the numerous states of Germany. Modern, democratic Germany was decisively shaped by the "Fathers of the Basic Law" in the 1948 Constitutional Convention at Herrenchiemsee and by the first Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Hungary

According to Anonymus the fejedelem who made the Magyars settle into the Carpathian Basin was Árpád. His dynasty reigned over the Hungarian Kingdom from the ninth century until 1301. In Hungary St. Stephen is commonly regarded as the founder of the nation. He was Hungary's first king and united the Magyar people into the Kingdom of Hungary which grew out to be one of the largest monarchies in medieval Europe. Amongst others Lajos Kossuth is suppoposed to be the Pater Patriae. He is known as the leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 against the Habsburg royalists, and therefore founder of the modern Hungarian republic.

[edit] Ireland

The Irish Free State was established after the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), in which Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera were key leaders. However, they became antagonists in the Irish Civil War (1922–23), in which Collins was killed and de Valera defeated. For decades, the inheritors of the opposing factions bypassed these sensitivities to honour the earlier leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, in particular the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic: Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Éamonn Ceannt, Tom Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, and Joseph Mary Plunkett.

[edit] Italy

Giuseppe Garibaldi the "Hero of the Two Worlds"

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882), Count Camillo Benso (1810–1861), Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872) have been referred to as the founding fathers of the Kingdom of Italy.^[30] In some extent, also King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.

[edit] Norway

Usually the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814, consisting of 112 men from most of the country, in Norway often referred to as the Eidsvoll Men or the Fathers of the Constitution.^[31]

[edit] Netherlands

Prince William I of Orange (1533–1584) or William the Silent, is known as the father of the Netherlands. He led the Dutch in their Revolt against Spain for their independence. Today he is often called Vader des Vaderlands which in English means, Father of the Fatherland.^[32]

[edit] Poland

Mieszko I of Poland

Mieszko I (b. ca. 920/45 – d. 25 May 992), the first historical ruler of Poland, Mieszko I is considered as the de facto creator of the Polish state. He was a Duke of the Polans from about 960 until his death. Mieszko I's marriage in 965 to the Přemyslid princess Dobrawa and his baptism in 966 put him and his country in the cultural sphere of Western Christianity. According to existing sources, Mieszko I was a wise politician, a talented military leader and charismatic ruler. He successfully used diplomacy, concluding an alliance with Bohemia first, and then with Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire. In foreign policy, he placed the interests of his country foremost, even entering into agreements with former enemies. On his death, he left to his sons a country of greatly expanded territory, with a well-established position in Europe. Mieszko I also appeared as "Dagome" in a papal document from about 1085, called "Dagome iudex", which mentions a gift or dedication of Mieszko's land to the Pope (the act took place almost a hundred years earlier).

[edit] Portugal

Henry of Burgundy (1066–1112), was appointed Count of Portugal as a reward for military services to Kingdom of León, and with the purpose of expanding the territory southwards. And, more importantly, his son, Count Afonso I of Portugal (1109–1185), a Templar Brother who took control of the county after Henry died and was recognized by the Holy See, in 1179, as the first King of Portugal, through the Manifestis Probatum bull.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Russia

Russia has passed through various stages of its history, thus her founding fathers might have various historic backgrounds, with common features like the idea of strong central power, the idea of spiritual mission of Russia, and the idea of the Motherland^{[citation needed]}

• Peter the Great - first Russian Emperor, great reformer of Russia in the Western (previously Dutch) style, creator of the modern Army and of the Navy, leader of Russia through the victorious war with Sweden, founder of Saint-Petersburg

[edit] Serbia

• the Unknown Archont in the 7th century.

[edit] Swiss Confederation

Both the anonymous Eidgenossen who drew up the Federal Charter of 1291, or the liberal statesmen who helped found the modern Swiss Confederation in 1848 can be considered the founding fathers of Switzerland. Among the latter, those who became the first members of the Swiss Federal Council were perhaps the most notable: Ulrich Ochsenbein, Jakob Stämpfli, Jonas Furrer, Martin J. Munzinger, Daniel-Henri Druey, Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Wilhelm Matthias Naeff and Stefano Franscini.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is Founder of Modern Turkey. "Father of the Turks"

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first President.^[33]

[edit] Spain

The Catholic Monarchs (15th century). Unification of Spain, both coming from the noble House of Trastámara.

Charles I of Spain (1500–1558). First monarch of the spanish realms and emperor of the Spanish Empire.

[edit] References

History portal